Former SLO County mayor candidate will represent herself in election fraud case
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- Former mayoral candidate Gaea Powell will represent herself in fraud case.
- Judge Covello approved Powell’s request to self-represent, denied advisory counsel.
- Powell faces nine charges and up to nearly nine years in prison if convicted.
Gaea Powell — the former two-time Arroyo Grande mayoral candidate who has been accused of election and voter fraud — will represent herself in court against the fraud charges.
Despite Judge Timothy Covello’s warnings to Powell against defending herself in court last week and again on Monday morning, pointing to her lack of legal background or understanding of court processes, he ultimately granted her request to forgo her right to a court-appointed public defender. Moving forward, Powell will act as her own lawyer.
However, Covello denied Powell’s second request for advisory counsel.
“You want to exercise your right to have the legal case and court rules explained to you utilizing constitutional law in common language,” Covello said in court. “There is no such right.”
He warned Powell again that without an understanding of the court rules relating to her case, she may be putting herself in “legal jeopardy.” But Powell disagreed.
After Monday morning’s decision, Powell told The Tribune she was “very excited” and had “a very specific strategy” to bring to the courtroom.
“I believe the truth will prevail, so I have to follow my intuition and my intelligence and knowing that I’m innocent of these charges,” Powell said. “I believe it’s a witch hunt.”
Powell faces up to nearly nine years in prison for nine charges.
“People who represent themselves, particularly when they’re (dealing) with substantial potential prison time, often do so to their own (detriment),” Covello said. “It’s just the reality.”
Powell will represent herself, despite judges’ concerns
Last Monday, Powell asked to defend herself through a Marsden motion to dismiss her court-appointed public defender, which was promptly followed by a Faretta motion to represent herself, Covello said.
She was previously represented by public defender Andrew Jennings.
“You expressed concern that Mr. Jennings, who’s a very experienced lawyer, has never done elections type of cases, yet you’re asking to represent yourself, and you’ve never done elections type of case or any kind of case,” Covello said. “I’m not sure how that squares.”
She also made a request for an “interpreter” — otherwise known as advisory counsel — to explain the necessary legal background and court processes to her, in an email sent to Ben Blumenthal, the District Attorney’s Office prosecutor assigned to her case, and Deputy DA Eric Dobroth. In the email, obtained by The Tribune, Powell said this was her constitutional right, which Covello said proves her inability to self-represent.
“What you’re describing is not advisory counsel,” Covello said. “You’re describing co-counsel. You’re describing someone to be your lawyer with you. That’s not what advisory counsel is, and you’re not constitutionally entitled to either.”
Covello said her email request showed a “lack of understanding” as to what advisory counsel does, later explaining that they provide only occasional consultations and are not required to always be present in court with Powell or tell her how to write her motions.
“If you think that that person would help you in terms of doing your legal work for you, that’s why you have appointed counsel to do your legal work,” Covello said.
Covello went on to say sending the email to the DA’s prosecutors in the first place was “inappropriate,” because she did not represent herself at the time and should have been communicating through her attorney.
“That tells me that you don’t really know what this process is, and the court is not here to help you learn to navigate,” Covello said.
Covello then questioned Powell about specifics relating to her case in order to grant the Faretta motion.
He first asked her what she is charged with, to which she answered, “election fraud.”
Powell is charged with nine counts — including eight felonies and one misdemeanor — of election and voter fraud. Covello asked if she realized she was accused of multiple different types of fraud. Powell answered yes.
Covello then asked if she knew the maximum punishment she faces.
“I’d have to review the exact amount of time I would have to — “ Powell said.
“Ballpark is fine,” Covello said, cutting her off.
“I would say it would be multiple years ... and (a) fine,” she said.
“It is multiple years,” Covello said, specifically noting the maximum sentence was eight years and seven months.
Covello then explained some of the risks Powell faces by self-representing.
Without outside representation, Powell wouldn’t be able to raise incompetence of counsel in a potential appeal, and she couldn’t raise her own incompetence as a defense because she waived the right to counsel, he said.
She also would likely be denied counsel if she changed her mind on the eve of the trail and would be forced to continue representing herself, Covello said.
Powell later told The Tribune that if she got to a point where she became concerned about her lack of legal background, she would ask for legal assistance.
Powell said she clearly and completely understood the risks of representing herself and the role of advisory counsel, which she again requested.
Covello granted Powell’s request for self-representation but denied her advisory counsel.
“These proceedings will not be slowed down for you to get up to speed on the law and try to be self-taught in what takes people three years to learn, and that’s not the function of advisory counsel,” he said.
Covello said he would be willing to revisit the ruling in the future.
Covello moved on and asked if Powell would like to set a preliminary hearing as soon as possible. Powell said she would need some time to review the discovery she has yet to receive, which Covello said was reasonable.
Blumenthal said the DA’s Office would need some time to make redactions to the discovery, which consists of 20 packets, each with 1000s of pages, including multimedia files.
Another pre-preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 20 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 5 of San Luis Obispo Superior Court, at which time Powell will tell the court how long she needs to review discovery in full before a preliminary hearing, which she waived her right to have within 60 days of her July 15 arraignment.
Powell says she did not break any law
Powell ran for mayor of Arroyo Grande in 2022 and 2024. The charges against her relate to where she resided, was registered to vote and run as a candidate in both elections.
Powell’s main residence was a house located outside of the city limits on Heritage Lane, but she also rented a condominium on James Way, inside the city limits. Arroyo Grande city elections require candidates to be registered voters inside the city limits, but the residency rules are unclear.
“There are currently no residency restrictions related to time spent at one residence within the city limits versus at another outside city limits,” City Clerk Jessica Matson told Powell in a July 2023 email exchange obtained by The Tribune.
During her campaign, Powell was open about residing in both residences and admitted to living full-time at her home on Heritage Lane, speaking about her residency in a debate with Mayor Caren Russom at the time.
She later told The Tribune she does not think she broke the law, because she has never been shown a law that dictates how much time a candidate has to spend at a certain residence when running for office.
“I was told that I didn’t have to be there, but no one has ever given me a residency law that I have broken,” she said. “So it’s a very shell game, in my opinion.”
Powell told both The Tribune and Covello she has a “specific strategy to defend myself,” but did not clarify what that strategy was.
